1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a splice member for joining two strips of material, the strips including electrical terminals mounted thereon. More particularly, this invention is directed to a splice member for use with bandolier terminal strips of the types used in the assembly of electrical connectors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional bandolier strips are adapted for supplying component parts to manual, semi-automatic, or fully automatic manufacturing machines; for example, an automatic insertion machine for inserting electrical contacts into an electrical connector. Conventional bandoliers typically comprise part of a bandolier feed reel whereby, when the reel runs to its end, conventional procedure requires that the insertion machine must be shut down for a period of time to allow for connection of a new bandolier reel. During this time, the connection between bandoliers is conventionally made by welding, wiring, and/or taping methods. The conventional methods are disadvantageous in that they cannot be run through the machine, and so the machine must be stopped while a new reel is fed into the machine. Experience has shown that downtime due to this one problem can equal approximately thirty percent of all down time for assembling bandolier fed electrical contacts into electrical connector housings.